POLLy Jean Harvey - The PJ Harvey results thread

About Uh-Huh Her: I voted for this one. It has the songs, she just chose to record them in an odd way. No Child Of Mine remains one of the catchier things she's ever done.

4-Track Demos is my no.1. I like nearly all of it more than Rid Of Me.

Uh Huh Her has got some classic tracks on it, but it just doesn't gel as well as we'd come to expect from her.

7. White Chalk (2007) - 48 points, 13 votes
http://cdn4.pitchfork.com/albums/10501/homepage_large.2cdfc67a.jpg

love that angora bra thing from the 4 track demos cover
AND the white chalk cover is so beautiful and that dress makes me want to scream it's so pretty
she always has the best clothes! i love her styling through the years -- she doesn't get enough credit for sheer variety of looks.

UHH and WC placing exactly where they need to be.

4-Track Demos is my no.1. I like nearly all of it more than Rid Of Me.

i go back and forth. the demos are intimate and seem to capture more vocal nuance, but i love the meaty physicality of the albini drums. take "rid of me" (the song): i prefer the verses and the more balanced mix on the 4-trk version, but damn, the studio version's chorus just destroys. "yuri-g" is another case where the song is fantastic in both versions, and i can't pick a favorite.

4-trk does have "easy" and "reeling". can't imagine why those didn't make it to rom.

lecha otm: white chalk photo & style are lovely (and rather baleful)

this is one of those where I legitimately have no good guess as to the order in which the top three or four albums will place.

xp 4-Track demos is better than a lot below it, as is Demonstration, the equivalent album for Dry, but they kinda don't count.

Stories from the City better be next.

UHH and WC placing exactly where they need to be.

white chalk is her best record. then again i didn't vote.

It's got its cult.

Many may have already seen this -- wicked outfit and a bitchin' guitar (anybody know what kind it is?).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMwWP2Rr5JE

What's Demonstration? I have a sudden vague memory of Dry coming in a two-disc version, which I didn't buy.

6. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000) - 66 points, 2 first places, 10 votes
http://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/covers/stories-from-the-city-stories-from-the-sea.jpg

Surprised to see this so low, to be honest.

I'm regretting not voting for "4 Track Demos" now ... it's always been hard for me to separate it from "Rid of Me", the two of them together kind of make up a complete set. I actually bought it before RoM and didn't hear RoM in it's entirety until several months later.

white chalk is an album i wouldn't have expected from her. it's so intimate and she seems so vulnerable on it. i quite like it as it is different. most songs have got a frightening, harrowing quality to them. a very intense album, i rated it higher.

What's Demonstration? I have a sudden vague memory of Dry coming in a two-disc version, which I didn't buy.

Yeah, early copies came with an extra disc called Demonstration. I got it on vinyl - probably my favourite record/object I own. It's basically the demos for Dry, which I think were the tapes that got her signed in the first place.

Here's Oh My Lover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqwVCOuQK6w

And Dress:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzYhPEEmzaY

a little surprised to see stories that low until i stop to think what it could've possibly beaten (w/ a different sample group it might've beaten is this desire? but that sure as fuck wasn't happening here)

SFTC.. is a flawed album w/ a handful of incredible high points.

xpost It's an Airline guitar, prolly from the 60s (not a reissue). I believe Jack White is a fan.

Very surprised to see the next one so low as well...

5. Dry (1992) - 122 points, 6 first places, 17 votes
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nsCT3EFoxK8/SSqlvEhwW8I/AAAAAAAAA0g/WBxppmlWqIg/s320/PJ+Harvey+-+Dry-1992.jpg

yeah that's crazy but somebody in that top five had to be #5, i get to keep on thinking let england shake is a little overrated though

yeah, not a huge surprise, though it deserves better. rom & les were shoo-ins, and the tbyml/isd backers seem p dedicated.

Dry is a cracking first draft, but not at all ridiculous to conclude she's made four better ones

i guess it has to do with the fact tat most people who voted probably were not around at the time. from my pov definitely her best album, very song is a killer. so much energy plus great tunes and a pretty perfect, dry production.

I thought "Dry" might win ... other albums had their backers but "Dry" seemed to be the album that everybody liked

every song a killer...

I was around at the time and I didn't feel the need to buy a PJ Harvey album until TBYML

I didn't vote tho

4. Is This Desire? (1998) - 124 points, 4 first places, 21 votes
http://merlin.pl/Is-This-Desire_PJ-Harvey,images_big,26,5245632.jpg

only on ILM! yay!

I was around at the time and have vinyl Dry somewhere, but am now really regretting not shelling out for the double-disc. (memory says it might've been in indie shops only, which is a pretty poor show Chain With No Name, if you're reading)

yeah there could be a gulf in perspective between ppl for who whom dry was first contact w/ huge impact and ppl for whom it was just 'the early stuff' or whatever

ITD really made folks in my neck of the woods go "whaaaa...?" in '98. Certainly it sounded like a holding pattern compared to its predecessors. It didn't grab me until three years later.

i am still hoping that to bring you my love might win this but that is probably a delusion.

Dry was my number one by a mile (and obviously the first one I heard).

No chance xp

Many may have already seen this -- wicked outfit and a bitchin' guitar (anybody know what kind it is?).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_(guitar) or later copy

i loved it but was slightly disappointed, i think 'broken homes' earlier that year had probably warped my expectations

3. To Bring You Love (1995) - 128 points, 3 first places, 22 votes
http://images1.makefive.com/images/entertainment/music/greatest-rock-records-of-all-time/pj-harvey---to-bring-you-my-love-7.jpg

"Teclo" opened this album for me.

of course. but can we do that again with corret title plus cover art?

sorry, there is the cover out of nowhere...

Re: Airline Guitars-Jimmy Reed was also fan in his post Vee Jay years

but can we do that again with corret title plus cover art?
OK - To Bring You My Love

2. Let England Shake (2011) - 132 points, 3 first places, 21 votes
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5f/Pjharveyletenglandshake.jpg/220px-Pjharveyletenglandshake.jpg

Can you correct the no.10 while you're at it?

1. Rid of Me (1993) - 170 points, 10 first places, 22 votes
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ViblFdHNGDo/T6OrP2h37RI/AAAAAAAADgw/_nbZIB0d9SU/s1600/pj+harvey+rid+of+me.jpg

Well, that's the pro and con of many Albini productions: crank it and it *does* sounds like the band is in the room right in front of you. But sometimes you don't want the band right in front of you. I'm not sure that's what the studio is necessarily for. That's what live performances (and live recordings) are for! Albini prides himself on taking himself out of the mix (so to speak). He's just there to capture the moment in the most pure way possible and so, just a guy recording the band, doing their bidding, and so on. But the ironic result on "Rid of Me" is that he is more present and apparent than ever, which is why literally no one fails to mention the sound of the record (again, pro and con). Don't get me wrong, I love "Rid of Me," I just still think it was the wrong approach for a trio of such cool, unique musicians, and it's why despite liking all of the songs it's the only thing keeping me from listening to it as much as I otherwise would.

(I should also stress that I think the Albini approach does often work, and to the band's benefit, whether the Jesus Lizard or Low or Bedhead or Page/Plant.)

I dunno. I think that approach on Rid of Me makes it more intense than it would have been had it been recorded differently, and that intensity is kind of the point.

Can't really disagree, but I don't think we would have missed out on any intensity with a different approach. Intensity is kind of her thing!

He's just there to capture the moment in the most pure way possible and so, just a guy recording the band, doing their bidding, and so on. But the ironic result on "Rid of Me" is that he is more present and apparent than ever

Oh, I have no doubt it was her idea! I just find it distracting is all, since so few bands exploit dynamics in that way, period. But I'm also not a big fan of the guitar sounds on "Rid of Me," iirc. I should give it a fresh listen (if my family ever leaves the house, because they will tell me to turn it the fuck off, because see above).

I guess the 4-track Demos album presents those songs in a much less overwhelming arrangements? I don't understand how Rid of Me is anything but a powerful band reaching for the most visceral, slamming sound possible, and absolutely nailing it. I'm glad it exists and I'm glad it sounds nothing like 99% of my record collection.

I mean - the dynamics and drama are the *point* of those songs.

Trying to imagine Rid of Me with a more 1993 Alt-Rock identikit production, and it's not pretty in all the wrong ways.

rid of me, produced by butch vig

or Ross Robinson

Gross

Every record produced by Butch Vig would have been better without him, except perhaps for Garbage's first two albums.

Rid Of Me...produced by Mitchell Froom

Bells and whistles

I try to imagine Rid of Me produced by Flood all the time

Really hoping she finally releases a compilation of her incredible b-sides. "Memphis" could've been a hit.

^ I have been thinking about the B-sides as well. The press release mentions only demos being released as companion albums, and while with Dry and Rid of Me it's quite simple (Demonstration and 4-Track Demos have already been out since the early 90s, and there are like 3 B-sides from that period that wouldn't warrant a separate release anyway), things get a bit more complicated with later albums. For instance, the guitar and vocal tracks on "I Think I'm a Mother" are apparently taken from PJ's demo recording, similarly a bunch of tracks from Is This Desire? was just demos that were transferred into the studio and then the band worked on top of them. And of course she recorded most of Uh Huh Her (apart from the drums) by herself on an 8-track at home. There are probably more cases of her home recordings making their way onto the final albums.

So it seems in some cases the 'demos' may not be that different from the finished product, which makes me wonder if they'll include some B-sides on the future releases instead.

https://i.imgur.com/hY9kk6S.png

Rid of Me / 4-Track Demos reissues coming on August 21st.

ROM vinyl cutting by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering under the guidance of Steve Albini, 4TD cutting by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering under the guidance of John Parish.

White Chalk era From The Basement session up on YouTube. I think it’s my favourite album of hers. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnEQRzSLg1KI_7ECYQBI71h04XN3t3S40

To Bring You My Love and its demos coming September 11th.

https://i.imgur.com/jK1NpND.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXsKBb3Csgg

The demo of Down By The Water sounds so close to the album version! The QY20 drum machine and percussion are the only noticeable differences. I had no idea Polly had used the vocals from her home recording in the final cut. It's impressive that she basically already had the whole track down when she was demoing it in her bedroom -- albeit it makes the newly surfaced demo less interesting than one might have expected, as opposed to the Rid Of Me demos which shed new light on the songs.

I'm a little surprised that the second disk is just demos since the B-sides from this era are very very good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stIDxBPJohQ

Still very excited for the demos.

If that "Down by the River" demo is any indication, I wonder if this was a situation where they roped in a ringer to produce (Flood, at the peak of his powers), tried to capture the qualities of the demos, but decided, eh, let's just use as much of those takes as we can.

The Dry Demos are out. I like them but most of them - except maybe Dress - miss the power of the final album. There is no sudden outburst of guitar noise like on Hair. There is not a lot of rhythm. Some of them are even fragile. An excellent production job which gave the album this raw brutal sound. On the other side it is very rewarding to listen to the demos where her voice is the main instrument.

https://media1.jpc.de/image/w600/front/0/0602508782473.jpg

Dress in the whole-band arrangement is prog-levels of overlapping rhythmic oddity, but still so blunt. Was surprised to hear bowed strings in the demo.

The To Bring You My Love demos are out and they're a much more fleshed-out effort than the Dry or Rid of Me demos indeed - filled with keyboards and drum machines, with pretty much whole arrangements worked out at the home recording stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YG33LTqUCs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc8ircFYfr4

Oh boy, the artwork for those demos. The back photo is pretty nice too. I was in high school when I got 4-track demos and I crushed on her so hard based on the music and that album cover. She still sends me into a cloud of pubescent longing.

I think I got this and Guyville within a month of each other and together they blew my mind. I had never been exposed to complex female perspectives before in music. It took me a while to realize that Highway 61 was a cover!

The Dry vinyl reissue isn't too great. Lots of background noise in some songs. Supposedly the Euro pressing is better.

Sorry to hear that about the reissue.

I had thought about getting CD versions of the first two albums, which I own on vinyl. I haven't seen them yet anywhere.

The Dry vinyl reissue isn't too great.

Yeah, the US one is kind of crap. The Rid of Me one is much better. Not sure if I'm gonna get any of the rest of what's to come.

I bought the To Bring You My Love reissue yesterday, but haven't had the chance to listen to it yet.

Just FYI I have the European pressing of the Dry reissue and it sounds great, no problems whatsoever.

listening on streaming to the Bring You My Love demos (bummer about the vinyl was just about to order it glad I clicked here first)

but wow, I love this, she's the master of demos

Finally got the chance to listen to the TBYML vinyl and it's excellent.

Stories.. demos etc

https://pjharvey.kontraband.store/products/stories-from-the-city-stories-from-the-sea-demos-lp

I'm happy to get the chance to have all the albums on vinyl (just need this and Uh Huh Her now), but I'm not forking out for any more of the demo albums. The To Bring You My Love demos have minor differences in arrangements, but in terms of song structure, composition, phrasing etc they are identical bar by bar to the final release. I can't imagine this will change with later releases. Is she going to put out Uh Huh Her and White Chalk demo albums? They already sound like demos! (Don't get me wrong, I like them, but still...)

It’d be nice if there were CD versions of these reissues.

There's a CD edition of the just-released Is This Desire? Demos set--I just ordered a copy from my local shop; am really into the drum machine backings on pretty much this whole thing, and am glad that it's (at the time of this post) all up on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQxxfsns0ho

Think he might have meant CD reissues of the actual albums.

Her B-Sides, Rarities & Demos is fantastic in a way that (to me) the LPs haven’t been in a minute. Loving this.

Yeah, it's a great compilation. There are a few bizarre choices and weird omissions―but that's to be expected with such big retrospectives―and the third CD (or LPs 5 & 6) is a bit of a mixed bag as it features everything from her early/pre-90s songs, soundtrack work, unreleased demos, to a Nick Cave cover and some one-off singles, but the first two parts are an amazing, surprisingly cohesive listen.